Letter: World Suicide Prevention Day

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September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. This is the one day a year focused solely on awareness around the issue of suicide and its prevention and we’re spreading the message that suicide can affect anyone and anyone can prevent suicide. This year’s theme, as determined by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, is “Working together to prevent suicide.”

Suicide prevention is everybody’s business.

Every day in Canada, 12 people die by suicide. As we saw this past year, suicide impacts every facet of society. People who consider suicide are in crisis: they are experiencing such deep, psychological pain that they have lost hope. Their vision becomes so narrow that the only way they can see an end to their pain is through death. Too often, these people suffer alone and die alone.

People in crisis need our help. Taking the time to have a caring conversation with someone and being willing to sit in their discomfort with them can be the beginning of their recovery from suicidal crisis.

People in crisis need someone to sit in tandem with them right where they are. At the Centre for Suicide Prevention, we’ve been teaching people to do just that for 37 years.
We’re seeing more momentum in suicide prevention than ever before. We’re working with the social service and health sectors and now, governments and government agencies as they’ve renewed their commitment and begun directing resources in this area.

Today, more people are openly discussing suicide and suicide prevention. The impact of our efforts will be greater, working together as individuals, as organizations, and as a society to eradicate suicide.

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Are you struggling with suicidal thoughts or know someone who is? In Alberta, call 2-1-1 or your local crisis line.